November 09, 2009

Customers Behaving Badly

We've all been there. You've had a bad day. Maybe the stress of party planning has taken a toll. Maybe you're getting a cold or you have a toothache. Maybe you are just plain tired.

We understand. Everyone has a bad day from time to time. We work very had to be sure every one of our customers gets the cake they were expecting. Sometimes things go wrong, and when they do, we make every attempt to make it right, even if that means working late, delivering a cake that has to be re-decorated. Or whatever it takes.

The overwhelming majority of our customers are extremely nice and polite. And glad to be picking up a cake for a happy occasion. We have never had to enforce the "Be Nice or Leave" signs in our shop, but we have thought about it on occasion. For example...

A customer orders a 3-tier birthday cake in teal, brown and white. Teal may be a slightly subjective color, but we happen to have many bottles of premixed gel colors (straight from the factory), including TEAL. "THIS IS KELLY GREEN" she screams at us, insisting we scrape all the offending icing off the cake and start over.

A customer orders a cake with the instructions to write "Happy Birthday Mom" in either yellow or pink. The decorator, not sure which color to use, calls the number on the order sheet to ask the customer. The phone is answered by her mother (the subject of the cake), who happens to have the same first name, and tells us pink is her favorite color. When the daughter comes in to pick up the cake, she informs us "YOU SHOULD GIVE ME A DISCOUNT FOR TOTALLY SPOILING MY MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY SURPRISE."

A mother planning her child's first birthday party gives us an invitation to use as a guide to decorating the cake. On it are at least twelve animals in a Noah's ark themed design. We copy three of them on the cake. One of my employees delivered the cake. While her husband looked on helplessly, she screamed "IS THIS THE UGLIEST CAKE YOU HAVE EVEN SEEN?? WHERE IS THE TURTLE?? HER FAVORITE ANIMAL IS THE TURTLE??" He brought it back to the shop, we added a turtle, and everyone was happy.

A 3-dimensional cake does not have the exact design the customer wants so we proceed to take the cake apart to fix it. As we are putting the cake back together, it no longer stands up straight all by itself. The customer walks out of the shop, irate that she has to witness a work in progress. A few minutes later, the phone rings. I AM SO ANGRY THAT I AM GOING TO DRIVE AROUND FOR A HALF HOUR. IF I AM ABLE TO CALM DOWN, I WILL BE BACK TO GET THE CAKE, OTHERWISE I WANT MY MONEY BACK. The cake is fixed five minutes later but she never comes back.

A 21-year-old goes off the wall because the "turquoise" dots on her cake were not the color turquoise she was expecting. While she rants, the phone rings. It's her mother, who has stepped outside, apologizing for her daughter's inexcusable behavior. "SHE HAS HAD A BAD DAY."

The mother of a 10-year-old comes in, on the way to the party, to pick up a square stacked cake that looks like a package. Her face says it all, but she still screams "THE BOW IS NOT BIG ENOUGH. I SAW A CAKE HERE WHEN I ORDERED THIS ONE THAT HAD A MUCH BIGGER BOW."

Days, months, and years later, we still talk about these customers and sigh...